‘Home invasion was their biggest mistake’
The Executioners is a 2018 American horror thriller film written and directed by Giorgio Serafini (The Tracker; Agenda: Payback; Game of Death, 2011).
The movie stars Natalie Burn (Acceleration; Downhill; Killer Mermaid), Jemma Dallender (I Spit on Your Grave 2), Rachel Rosenstein (Lake Mead; 90210 Shark Attack), Anna Shields (Monstrous; Lake Artifact) and Justin Fischer.
Plot:
When four female friends go on a retreat to a secluded lakeside cabin, they soon realise they’re not alone. Masked intruders try to take them hostage, but as they fight back, the friends get a taste for something more than the will to survive. Will their fate be as victim or executioner?
Reviews:
“The Executioners is the worst kind of bad: Boring, monotone and repetitive. It’s also the worst kind of nasty: Malicious, misguided and mirthless. It’s a throwback to a time when horror was in the doldrums, desperate to shock in the most basic way possible. Well, it is shocking, but not for the reasons the filmmakers intended.” Critical Movie Critics
“The Executioners is generally a better-produced film that it needs to be, but not hugely so. The performances are good, and occasionally very good. The content is predictable but packaged well enough. The visual production is sometimes hokey, sometimes dynamic.” Cryptic Rock
“As the poster suggests, Serafini is going for the grindhouse aesthetic. I’m just not sure how well he nails this. The nasty and repellent elements, he seems to have a good handle on, and Dallender impresses in her role. The eventual explanation raises more questions than it answers, and doesn’t appear to make a great deal of logical sense.” Girls with Guns
“There is a twist at the end, but it makes zero sense and would perhaps confound the repugnance of the film if it wasn’t so inept. Two stars because of the reasonable level of competence: The Executioners sets out to be exploitative and repulsive, and, to its shame, it succeeds.” The Movie Waffler
“Using pacing to build up tension is one thing. It’s something else entirely when viewers can use certain scenes to go refill their drinks without missing anything […] Director Giorgio even throws in a “twist” at the end hoping to salvage something from the wreckage, but it’s not so much a twist as it is the cinematic equivalent of telling someone their shoes are untied when they’re not.” The Scariest Things
Cast and characters:
Jemma Dallender … Belle
Natalie Burn … Kay
Rachel Rosenstein … Angela
Anna Shields … Lory
Justin Fischer … David
Anthony Belevtsov … Mr Black
Michael Santi … Mr Red
Fernando Soto … Mr Blue
Todd Thompson … Eric Feinstein
John Hardy … Belle’s Father
Giorgio Serafini … Jim
Filming locations:
Orlando, Florida
Technical details:
93 minutes
